harder than working in a mine ?
A WALK DOWN BELL ISLAND HISTORY
Published Aug. 10
BY TRACY BARRON
The Telegram - Bell Island
As a child growing up on Bell Island, Don Squires can remember using
the
wheels of old ore carts from the underground mines as weights.
He walks through the No. 2 mine with a flashlight and light-equipped
helmet, telling stories about the mine and the miners as if rattling
off
his family history.
In a way, he is. His father was a time keeper on the No. 3 mine,
keeping
track of which miners were underground. He was given $1,500 to relocate
to
Cambridge, Ont. when the mine closed.
Squires himself grew up next the No. 6 mine. His uncle was killed in
No. 4
by a falling rock - one of 101 people to lose their lives in 71 years
of
mining.
The six mines were - and, in a way, still are - a way of life on Bell
Island.
They were Bell Island's reason for being from 1894 to 1966.
Some people got rich, while the miners got a kick in the pants, said
Squires, one of three interpreters who give guided tours of the No. 2
mine,
which was reopened by the Bell Island Heritage Society three years ago.
When heritage society members first entered the mine four years ago, it
looked much the same as it did when it closed, Squires said.
The iron ore vein is clearly visible. But unlike in 1902, when the mine
opened, lights now line the ceiling of the main track, which would once
have brought the carts of ore to the surface.
"It's a vein that ran downwards on an eight-degree angle, roughly 2.5
miles
out underneath the ocean," Squires tells visitors.
The mine - a maze of rooms and support pillars - runs as deep as 540
metres
beneath the ocean floor.
To the left, the stables of the underground horse barn have been
rebuilt.
To the right is a make-shift lunch room, to which miners would retreat
to
escape the dampness.
Water drips from the ceiling and down the walls. The temperature dips
with
the descent down the levels.
The water was pumped out when the mine was operating, but now the lower
levels - those which run beneath the ocean floor - are flooded.
It's an eerie, damp place drenched in the history of Bell Islanders.
The community of Bell Island was built upon the vein of iron ore that
slopes from the surface and into Conception Bay.
Since 1894, miners on Bell Island followed the ore vein, first by
candlelight, then with seal-oil lamps and eventually using
battery-charged
lights.
In June 1966, the Dominion Steel Corporation (DOSCO) closed the last of
the
six mines, leaving three billion tonnes of unmined ore under the ocean
floor and another 50 million in the support pillars.
In all, 78 million tonnes had been shipped throughout the world, but
Bell
Island could no longer compete with less expensive mining operations.
Once the second-largest centre in Newfoundland, Bell Island's
population
has dropped from 12,000 in the 1950s to only 3,800.
Now the heritage society is trying to breathe new life into the
abandoned
mine in an attempt to breathe new life into the island.
Clayton King, a member of the heritage society board, jokes that tour
guide
Bernadette Hammond is the first woman to ever work in the Bell Island
mines.
But recognizing Bell Island's historical significance is serious
business
for the heritage society.
Ferry traffic for June was up seven per cent over last year, with
19,600
vehicles and 47,000 people traveling to the island.
This year the heritage society opened an interpretation centre at the
entrance to the No. 2 mine. It depicts life underground and includes an
exhibition of black-and-white photographs of the mine and miners taken
in
1954 by international photographer Yousuf Karsh.
The heritage society is trying to get Bell Island designated a National
Historic Site because of its role as an European ore supplier and
German
target in the Second World War.
The designation would bring funding and attention to the Conception Bay
island whose people are trying hard to stay afloat.
On Nov. 2, 1942, Bell Island became the only land-mass in North America
to
be hit during the Second World War when a German U-boat torpedoed the
Scotia loading pier.
In the same attack, 70 seamen were killed when the Germans sunk four
large
ore boats off Bell Island.
Telegram reporter
The Telegram, Box 5970, St. John's, Nfld. A1C 5X7
(709) 748-0858 |
